The Deluxe Edition is one of three now available to pre-order via Blizzard’s Battle.net, as well as the slightly cheaper £80 Digital Deluxe Edition, and the £60 Standard Edition. All pre-purchases get you access to the game and its open beta, plus a handful of extra cosmetics. The two pricier versions add extra cosmetic options and the game’s seasonal battle pass, with the Ultimate Edition upgrading that latter reward into its “accelerated” version. Word of these inclusions has received a mixed response from the Diablo community so far, and comes in the wake of monetisation concerns surrounding Blizzard’s free-to-play Diablo Immortal and Overwatch 2. Diablo 4, of course, is a premium game - though it will still employ a season pass model on top. For more detail on how this will work, our Bertie has been speaking to Blizzard on what Diablo 4’s seasonal model will entail. “We’re going to continue to work on the game,” Diablo 4 game director Joe Shely told Eurogamer, “and we’re going to do that by releasing frequent expansions which have new stories, new quests, new classes - those kinds of things; and our live service, which will feature seasons every three months that include major new seasonal features on a much grander scale than we’ve seen in things like Diablo 3, because again, all the people building the game are going to be working on seasons, working on expansions. And yes, it will feature a season pass that will serve as a companion to each season and its seasonal features.” So, what will a season pass get you? “Additional cosmetics and other cool stuff,” Shely explained. “The Season Pass is a companion to the season itself,” Shely continued. “So if you think about how Diablo 3 just released a season with ethereal items: In Diablo 4, what we’re doing is far more extensive than that, and all of the seasonal features and seasonal experience that you’ll get is completely free, and everyone who’s playing, who has Diablo 4, will get access to that. The season pass is on top of that and it gives access to additional cosmetics and other cool stuff that you can get. But it’s absolutely not [required] - you don’t have to buy it to participate in seasons.” Last night saw Diablo 4’s June 2023 release date formally announced on stage at The Game Awards, though not before a damning report into the game’s development surfaced - which questioned whether achieving that launch window was possible without significant pressure on staff.
